The Influence of Social Media in the Reporting of

News:

Analyzing the Jump from Newspapers to Handheld Devices

Jasmine Maria Jones

Midwestern State University

December 1st, 2014

Research Question

• Where do citizens get their news and to what extent does that impact

politics?

What is Social Media?

Prior Research

• Undergraduate

• Documentaries

• Social Media Journals

Theory & Hypotheses

Theory

• An increasing amount of

individuals worldwide are making

the progressive jump to social

media for their news.

Hypotheses

• The majority of consumers absorb

news online from a variety of social

media platforms.

Research Design

• Contact media outlets

• Gather reader information

• Input data

• Search for patterns

Paper Name 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 FB 2014 Twitter

WSJ 2000000 2000000 2100000 2300000 1400000 1300000 3400000 5400000

USA Today 1900000 1800000 1800000 1700000 1400000 1000000 2700000 1400000

Washington Post 580000 570000 550000 460000 430000 370000 3000000 3800000

NY Times 930000 950000 910000 680000 730000 630000 8800000 1410000

Analysis

• Analyzed data from the top four

newspapers in the country –

compared to social media following.

• Steady decline in newspaper

subscribers; increase in social media

presence.

Conclusion

• Technology is being embraced

• Politicians, News affiliates'

• Convenience

• People are able to voice their opinions and truly be heard

• This had pros and cons